In His Shadow

The ride was long and quiet; I sat in silence, fiddling with the lace edging of the dress I was forced into as I stared blankly out the window. Mary swatted my hand away.

"Leave it be, Samantha, find something else to keep your hands busy," she scolded in a firm yet gentle tone. I sighed as if I were a child and tucked my feet under my legs, my fingers now busy with the braid that had found its way over my shoulder. I had no idea what to look for once we got there, this wasn't a trip I intended to take without Sherlock but I would have to make do.

You have ears Samantha, all those years snooping on mommy and daddys bickering; you can be quite the nosey body when you want to be.

I rolled my eyes and rubbed at my temples. The last thing I wanted to be doing was arguing with myself with Mary sitting right beside me.

Aww, what's the matter Sammy? No wise words for me today? Haven't you missed me?

I ground my teeth and eagerly tapped my fingers along the bottom of the seat. Mary was busy eying me with an arched eyebrow.

I'm just trying to help is all; always trying to help and you're always so mean. My mind snickered.

I pursed my lips, tugging tightly at the ribbon wrapped around my braid and steadily tapping my foot against the seat.

"So," Mary coughed lightly, breaking the so called silence. "You and Mr. Holmes then?"

Her question quickly brought me back to reality, causing my fingers to slip from under the ribbon and sending my hand directly up into my face. I could hear my mind snicker as I shook off the sudden sting.

"What?" I turned to her, my voice a little higher than usual.

Mary narrowed her eyes at me. "Are you all right, Samantha?"

"Yeah, I'm fine," I forced a smile as I nodded. "You were saying?"

"I've been in Mycroft Holmes employ for quite some time now, and excuse me in saying but neither Holmes brother is what you would call fit to be a suitor. Or at least they show no interest in being so."

"No, I would say you're absolutely right," I laughed.

Mary smiled, "And charming as he can be, Mycroft Holmes can be so, so…"

"Pompous?" I suggested with a grin and a raised eyebrow.

"Yes!" She exclaimed, promptly y covering her mouth with her hand. "But you and Sherlock Holmes, now that is something different. That is something I thought I would never see."

"Don't I know it," I scoffed, rolling my eyes at the thought of him pacing, no hobbling around that tiny room until we returned, driving himself insane.

The carriage came to a slow and stopped.

Mary locked her green eyes onto mine and spoke quietly. "All right, stay close, and try your best not to speak."

I nodded and took a deep calming breath. "Here we go," I whispered to myself, just as Mary pushed open the door and we stepped out into the tree canopy.

"Return before the sunsets, the roads are less than safe after night fall," our driver told her as he secured the wagon to a nearby tree.

"Many thanks to thee, Bran," Mary said with a polite smile and a short bow.

"Be safe mistress Mary, I shall only be a call away if trouble should arise," Bran looked between us both with concerned eyes. He was a tall man; muscular, I was pretty sure he could hold his own pretty damn well in a fight, with dark cropped hair that matched his eyes.

"Keep your ears open, just in case," I said quietly, fixing the damage I had done to my hair and re-lacing up my boots.

"Keep thy lips sealed and my worry will be for naught," he replied with a tilt of his head and I swear a small snicker.

Whoa there Samantha, medieval boy has got a bit of a mouth on him! My mind snorted at his lippy response.

"Right—" I said slowly, briskly brushing my hands off and signaling Mary that I was ready to leave.

Mary figured it would be safest if we stuck to the market; I had already been there once before and some of the vendors there knew her already. I drank everything in as she gathered supplies for Addison; the buildings, the people, the stockades that once held Sherlock now had new men in them. Men that had looked far worse health wise. Their clothes were nothing but scraps that clung to their bodies by their own filth. You could count each and every protruding rib and vertebrae. Their cheeks were sunken in and their eyes were heavily bagged. To be bought by someone would be a gift; another day out here would kill them for sure, if not hours. I couldn't hide the sadness in my eyes, they had seemed so young; and now their youth would be cut short because the law sad it so.

"Brothers," a kind voice came from behind me. I turned to see man selling vegetables that Mary had called Samuel looking back at me with a similar sad expression. "Less than a fortnight ago they were found pilfering from the Baker, The Ealdorman let them fester below before sending them to certain doom. Such punishment seems as if it is for naught." He let his hand fall down hard on his table top, allowing a tomato to fall onto the ground. "Let them have the bread say I, what say you, fair maiden?" Samuel raised his eyebrows at me and waited for my reply; Mary only stared with a half open mouth.

"Aye, good sir," I said with a quietly with a smile and a nod. "Let them keep the bread."

"'Tis good to see there is some kindness left in this world. May I ask thy name?"

"Samantha."

Samuel took my hand and kissed the back of it gently, "A fair name for a fair maiden. Fare thee well, Samantha."

"Fare thee well, Samuel," I said sweetly with a warm smile and a small bow before following Mary away from his cart.

"You're supposed to be picking up clues, not men," Mary hissed at me under her breath with a grin.

I shot her a warning look, pursing my lips together as I lifted a finger in front of them.

"Right," she nodded, waiting a full three steps before having a giggle fit. "I hope Mr. Holmes isn't the jealous type," she breathed between laughs.

I couldn't help but laugh a little myself, "Shhh," I hushed her grabbing her arm and pulling her away, "I wasn't doing any picking up, now zip it, before you—"

"Greetings good ladies."

Both our heads snapped up to see a tall figure dressed in dark clothes, while they did not look like they were very expensive he certainly didn't look like he was on the lower end of things. His face was shaven with a day or two's stubble prickling at his cheeks, his messy dirty blonde hair clung to his forehead and his dark eyes were full of judgment. Then my eyes focused on the whip that was held in place on his hip. The same man that had stood guard over Sherlock the day Addison and I came to find him.

"G-Good day Rowan, how fair thee?" Mary stammered out, bowing her head slightly and pulling out the corner of her dress.

"Very well, and thee?"

Mary's lips formed a tight nervous smile while she nodded quickly and tried to step around him, but he was quick to block her with a step of his own.

"Addison now sends not one wench, but two to do his bidding?" Mavis asked accusingly, leering at the bundle in her arms. He plucked an apple off the top and tossed it up lightly before catching it and taking a bite. Mary blinked in response.

"I asked thee a question, wench," he said with another bite, narrowing his brow and taking a step closer, bring his face down to eye level with hers.

Mary coughed and stumbled over a number of syllables, none of them coherent enough to make any word, taking a few slow steps back.

Keep it zipped Samantha! My mind hissed; naturally I didn't listen, I wasn't about to see how skilled whip boy was with his weapon of choice.

"His father does not fare well," I spoke up.

Rowan' cold eyes immediately clicked over to me and he grinned; bits of apple peel clinging to his teeth and juice running from the corners of his lips. "Is that so?"

"Aye, Addison wishes to be near him," I nodded, "He shall be expecting our return with matters to aid his ailment." I placed my hand under Mary's elbow and took a daring step closer to him, his eyes never leaving mine as he took another bite from the apple and slowly chewed.

"Then I shan't keep you," he said through a sideways grin and a head tilt, taking a step to the side and moving his arm in a sweeping motion to let us pass. "My regards to Davidson," he quipped with a sly grin.

"Thanks be to thee, Rowan," Mary's voice squeaked out as made our way past him.

"And to you," he replied with a nod, lifting the apple core between his thumb and forefinger before tossing it off into a nearby ally. His eyes narrowed and drifted between the two of us, stopping when his gaze met mine; the corner of his mouth twitching up ever so slightly. I gave Mary's arm a few tugs, her eyes were wide and her feet glued to the ground.

"Addison awaits our arrival," I hissed into her ear, giving her another tug.

"Aye, he does." Making several quick nods she finally gave in to my pulling and began shuffling behind me through the marketplace.

There were a few more things that Addison did ask Mary to get while we were here; and as Mary did her business with the vendors I stood back and let my eyes wander, every so often finding Rowan lurking by some nearby booth, or holding some type of fake conversation while his eyes were fixated on us. We needed to leave, and we needed to do it alone. Once Mary was finished we started back towards the carriage.

The sound of rattling chains stopped me, and I turned to find myself in front of the boys in the stockade; the rattling being caused by their legs giving out from under them. Not a soul was giving them a second look, this was the sort of thing that happened every day, young boys being put up to die in their own filth for petty crimes. I let out a heavy sigh. One of them rolled their head and I was met with a pair of wet blue eyes, they reminded me of Stephen; and that broke my heart. I felt the tear trickle down my cheek as the boy watched, confused why this stranger would cry over him.

"Samantha," it was Mary's turn to hiss in my ear now as she jabbed her elbow into me. I blinked the rest of my tears away and turned to her. She only jerked her head to a nearby vendor. Low and behold there was our whip toting shadow, just standing there, watching.

"It's been like that since we first left him. How well do you know your way around town?" I whispered, keeping my head low.

"Not all that well, I've only been a handful of times." she said with a shrug of her shoulders, "Why?"

I looked back at the blue eyed boy, who was still watching me, and gave him a small sad smile. "You better remember real fast." I turned around and looked for a crowded alley for us to slip away in. "Let's go."

We weaved in and out the people, behind vendors and eventually into the alley. I took a moment to glance back and sure enough he was still there, pushing his way through.

"Step it up, Mary," I called, giving her back a light push, causing her to stumble slightly.

"But I—"

"Just go!"

We stumbled out of the alley and into another one; less people and now I could hear him coming.

"There are much fouler dogs beyond the market than I ladies," he yelled from somewhere behind us.

I grabbed Mary's arm and ran faster, through two more darkened alleys before finally coming to a series of archways and what looked like a large drainage ditch surrounding a large building. I grabbed the bag from and haphazardly dumped some things inside one of the adjacent archways before dropping it on the ground and then began dragging her toward the ditch.

"Come on."

"You're not serious," she scoffed, glancing at the muddy hole.

I looked back to the alley and thankfully hadn't seen Rowan emerging…yet. I nodded, pulling her hand once more.

"Do you have any idea what—"

"Don't know don't care," I shot back, wasting no time dropping to my knees and sliding down the side of the dirt hill into the wet below.

"Come on!" I rushed her, waving my hands at her. Mary nervously glanced around and reluctantly got down on the ground and slid down to join me. We crouched down and lie flat against the dirt and waited. The slope was a good six feet, with any luck he wouldn't see us, take the bag bait and just keep on going.

The footsteps finally came; I could hear his heavy breathing dangerously close to where we were as he paced the grounds above. I pressed myself harder into the dirt in some weak attempt to flatten myself into the slope. Mary stared at me with wide eyes, her fingers desperately digging into the earth.

"It'll be okay," I mouthed to her, sliding my hand over hers and giving it a light squeeze.

Rowan walked around the area longer than what felt necessary, but finally the sweet sound of his boots hitting stone filled my ears. Mary's eyebrows shot up and she began to move.

I shook my head. "Not yet, give it a little while, just in case." I whispered.

She nodded in response and gave a weary look back at the building leering behind us.

We waited for a good half hour, the sun was quickly setting; and getting out of this giant hole was a hell of a lot harder than getting in. We were both a mess, covered in dirt, the bottom foot or so of our dresses soaked in brown water and while climbing out I slid back down and got a nasty gash on my knee by an embedded rock. Mary went and salvaged what she could from the dropped bag, which sadly was nearly half.

"We can't go back through the market," I said with a sigh, "he'll be expecting that."

Mary turned back to me and shook her head. "This place is surrounded by woods; past those arches should be a straight shot behind the market. If I'm right we could go right back to the carriage."

"Woods it is then," I said attempting to brush some of the dirt from my hands. "And it's not completely dark so—" I was cut off by a blood curdling scream. Mary's face turned white and her eyes turned up to the building behind us.

"Mary, what exactly is this place?" I asked slowly.

"Trust me, Samantha, you don't want to know."

It was still light when we reached the carriage, but barely. Our trip through the woods had been quiet with the exception of each time one of our dresses would snag on a branch and the fabric would tear, or one of us would trip and add a nice new scrape to our collection.

Bran, our driver, was happy to see us return, but less than pleased that we didn't call for him.

"I handled it," I told him dryly as he scolded me on the ride home.

"It is not thy job; a lady should not do such things!"

"Well then thanks be to thee that this is not my damned time period!" I snapped and we rode the rest of the way in silence.

Sherlock, on the other hand, was a whole different story.

"Samantha!" His face flushed white when we got back to the house, he quickly hobbled over to me, taking my hand and running his fingers down the length of my scraped up skin. "This is your fault." He said darkly, turning his eyes on Mary. "I should've known—"

"Sherlock, stop," I rested my hands on his shoulders. "Look at her, she was scared to death, it was not her fault. And I'm fine, just some bumps along the road, nothing major."

"Who was it, and why was he following you?" Sherlock asked.

"We never said we were followed," Mary pitched in.

Sherlock's fingers twitched in annoyance against my skin and I groaned. She was not just pressing his buttons but pounding on them with a sledgehammer.

"You would think a woman in my brother's employ wouldn't be so daft; and yet you continue to amaze me."

"Holmes," I warned.

He released me and held up a single finger, taking a labored step towards Mary. "Did you two go gallivanting through a ditch for fun, or was it indeed a hiding place. Superficial wounds would suggest a route other than the nice stroll through town, and the fear, dear woman, is still etched all over your face. Now I repeat why was he following you," he snarled.

"I…I don't know," she whispered.

"I think he overheard her talking to me," I sighed, passing a hand over my face.

"So it was your fault," Sherlock snapped.

Mary hung her head and looked away. "It was an accident."

"There is a difference madam, between accidentally and idiotically and you walk the path of the latter," he said coldly.

"Sherlock!" I grabbed his arm and pulled him away.

"What?!"

"Leave her be, I'm just as much to blame as her and we are both fine so stop."

His eyes met mine and he sighed. "Things could have been much, much worse, Samantha," he said with concern. "If they had—"

"But they weren't," I hushed him, "and I'm fine."

Sherlock brushed his hand against the length of my cheek and tucked a strand of stray hair behind my ear. "You're certain you're all right?" His chocolate eyes filled with worry.

"Yes, and we'll talk more about it while you help me get cleaned up."

He nodded and glanced back at Mary. "Ms. Allerdice, I'm glad that you both made it back in allegedly one piece." Without another word he turned and slowly made his way to the stairs.

"What was that?" Mary whispered.

"That was the closest thing you'll get to an apology," I laughed. "You best go wash up as well," I smiled, before Clarice catches sight of you in that dress.

A/N:Hello my lovelies! thanks soo much for helping me reach my 100 reviews goal before this chapter, you all are soo wonderful! I apologize for the lack of Holmes here, but I promise I won't be making a habit of that but at least it was nice an long for you. YAY! This probably would have been up sooner but I have just been so tired lately. I'll try to get hopping on the next one some time tonight.

Hit that button on the way out and Samantha will make you some muffins!

-Shelly